Today several Performance One Advanced Sports Training Weightlifters competed at the Infinite Strength Open in Scottsdale, Arizona. Alexa DuMity started the day off lifting in the 53 kilo Weight Class. She Snatched 53, 56, and just missed 59 kilos. In the Clean and Jerk she made 64, 67, and just missed the Jerk with 70 kilos. Both of her last attempts were New Personal Record Attempts. Alexa is progressing each and every time she touches the bar. Her Totaled of 123 kilos qualified her for the University National Championships to be held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in September.

Next up was Morgan Leigh Huppenthal competing in the 63 kilo class. Morgan Snatched 63 kilos, missed 66 on her Second Attempt, and came back to make 66 kilos on her Third Attempt. The Clean & Jerk is Morgan’s specialty and it showed today. She opened with 80 kilos, made 85 kilos on her second, and when for a New Personal Record of 90 kilos on her Third Attempt. This gave Morgan a New Clean and Jerk and Total Personal Record! She like Alexa will be competing at the University Nationals.

Last up was Keith Weitz lifting up a weight class in the 77 kilos. Keith Snatched 95 kilos on his opener, missed 100 on his second attempt, and came back to make 100 on his third attempt. In the Clean and Jerk Keith made 125 kilos on his first attempt. Unfortunately, 130 was not there today as he missed it on his second and third attempts. Keith trained through this competition and will back at his normal weight class of 69 kilos for the American Open Championships in December

We would like to wish all of our Performance One Weightlifters competing at the 2016 Senior National Weightlifting Championships. Coach Micela will not be able to attend this years competition because he will be coaching the Tempe Special Olympic Powerlifters in the Arizona State Special Olympics Championships. He is extremely torn that he can’t be with his Weightlifters but they are in good hands with other Performance One Team Members. Good luck to our Weightlifters and Powerlifters this Weekend.

We use timed competitive drills like this one challenge each athlete mentally and physically. It is another form of competition that I am looking for to see who is competitive and rises to the task at hand and who is not. All three athletes are lifting 88% of their best Power Snatch.

First day at the 2014 University Nationals went pretty well. Dorothy Huynh competed in her first National Level competition and showed a lot of fight. She Snatched 53, missed 56 behind (over pull), missed 56 out front (over corrected and cut it short). In the Clean & Jerk she composed herself and came out very intense and focused. She made 64, 68, and 71 kilos (New Personal Record). She finished with 124 kilos and a New Personal Record in the Total. She finished 11th overall in the 58 kilo division. Dorothy has bigger lifts in her and with more training she will be able to showcase her talents.

In the 62 kilo A session Dillon Casillas had a little dog fight on his hands. Dillon did not have his best day but he showed that even not at his best he was going to scratch and fight for every kilo. In the Snatch he made a mental error on his opener with 95 kilos and had to repeat it on his second attempt. He over pulled 100 kilos on his third attempt. Dillon finished 2nd place in the Snatch.
Going into the Clean & Jerk we new it was going to be a three way battle for 2nd place with two other athletes. Dillon made a great opener with 120 kilos. This was the most he had ever opened with. 125 kilos was the call for his second attempt and he made it. Giving him a new Competition Record. The call was for 127 on the third attempt we already had Third Place locked up and this would have forced the other athlete to go very high to beat us. Dillon’s clean with 127 kilos was the best of the day, but called for a very slight incomplete lockout in the Jerk. This left an opening for his opponent to take 129 kilos and leap frog over us. He made the lift. Dillon finished 3rd place in the Clean & Jerk and 3rd Overall in the 62 kilo class. Dillon knows he left 7 kilos out there in the Snatch. When your not at your very best and you still medal you have to walk away somewhat content. But more work has to be done and we’ll correct it and come back stronger.

In the 69 kilo A Session Keith Weitz was prepared to compete. Keith was in very good shape and it showed. He made a very easy opener with 95 kilos in the Snatch and duplicated it on his second attempt with 100 kilos. The call was for 105 kilos on his third attempt. This would have been a Personal Record for Keith and a weight he has never attempted. He lifted the bar off the ground with such tremendous strength that he over pulled the bar and missed it behind. It was a miss but it was a good miss in my eyes because it showed me that Keith has the strength to handle this weight he just missed timed it. That can be corrected. Going into the Clean & Jerk Keith looked good in all his warm ups. He crushed 120 kilos on his opener. On his 2nd attempt he Cleaned 125 very good but on the recovery the bar was cutting his air off a little. He was not able to fully get his air and the Jerk suffered. We made the decision to bump him up to 127 kilos to buy him a little time to so that he could fully recover from the previous lift. Again he Cleaned the weight with great strength. This had been a previous issue with Keith in the past and he worked hard to bring up the deficit. This time he cleared his throat and was able to have a full breath going into the Jerk. However during the Jerk he had slight unlocking of his elbow and was called no lift. I always tell my athletes don’t leave it in the eyes of the judges. Work on perfect technique an leave no doubt. Despite not making the lifts I was happy that Keith was able to attempt these weights. He had never attempted 105 or 127 in a meet before this and they we’re both very close. I am confident that Keith will work hard to make these lifts opening attempts in the near future. He finished in 12th place overall.

Saturday I will be commentating during the 77 A Session at 3 PM (2 PM Arizona Time). Then we will have Blake Edwards competing in the 85 kilo A Session. After that I will Refereeing the 94 kilo A Session.

Sunday Kyle Schmidt will be competing in the 105 B Session, Chase Verquer will be competing in the 105 A Session. Missy Faubus will be competing in the 75+ A Session and Cody King will be competing in the 105+ A Session. Performance One Weightlifting has the most A Session Lifters out of any club from Arizona Representing here at the 2014 University Nationals.

This year’s meet was in Dallas, Texas. Dallas is a great city with very nice people, and that is coming from a Philadelphia Eagles fan. The weather for this meet was very nasty. Dallas doesn’t get much snow and ice, but this particular weekend they received quite a bit. The problem was not the amount of snow but the lack of resources to deal with it. Shame on Dallas for that it cause many problems within the city and at the airport. An ounce of prevention would have been much-suited here boys.

This meet was the largest in more recent years and despite the great efforts of the local organizers was not held up to the high standards that a National Event should be held to. With numbers this large it places a great amount of stress on the organizers, volunteers, referees, coaches, and athletes. Many sessions did not have the proper officials sitting in the referee chairs or jury tables. In many cases coaches had athletes on two platforms, one on one side of the room and the other on the other side of the room.

Instead of trying to cater to lower standard and more people at our National Events we should encourage more Regional Events so that the best of the best are competing at these higher levels of competition.

On to our athletes

Friday night we saw all three of our men lifting at the same time. In the 85-kilo B Session we had Craig Rintoul and James Ellis and in the 69-kilo B Session we had Keith Weitz. All three lifted side by side on platforms 1 and 2. This posed a logistical nightmare as a coach. I am very thankful to have had the help of Eric Bramwell, Kyle Sprouse, and Roger Nielsen during this session. Keith came into this meet having recently come off an injury and was not at 100%. We still made the attempt to go and compete. He Snatched 90, 94, and missed 98 kilos. In the Clean & Jerk he made 110, 114, and got called for a slight press out with 118 kilos. Keith will train hard to get back in shape and be ready for the Nationals in July. Craig Rintoul has been with me for over six years and has finally filled out into the 85-kilo weight class. He has had very good training leading into this competition and we were excited to see him perform. Craig snatched 115, 120 (tying his PR), and missed 125 kilos. In the Clean & Jerk, Craig made 145, and missed 150 twice in the Jerk. Craig was just 5 kilos off his PR Total of 270 kilos. With some more training and staying on this current path of success I see Craig lifting lifetime bests by the National Championships. James Ellis has been having very good training as well up until he pulled his groin two and half weeks prior to the competition. James was the only athlete on the team I had no idea how he was going to compete because his groin issue was very unpredictable. James is a competition lifter and looked very good in his entire warm up snatches. He missed 120 on his opener by just over pulling on the bar. He regrouped and made 120 on his second attempt. On his third attempt we went for 125 and he like on his opener just over pulled it. In the Clean & Jerks, we were worried more about the groin. Again all warm ups looked well. Deep down inside I knew his groin could only take so many lifts. He opened with 155 and just missed the Jerk out front. He came back to make it on his second attempt and then we took a shot at 160. It wasn’t meant to be. The groin couldn’t handle the weight. If we didn’t have this set back James was on pace to do 130 & 170. James will heal up and come back very strong for the Nationals.

On the Girls side we had a stellar performance from all three of our ladies. Like in the 85’s we had two athletes in the 53-kilo class. Sixteen year old, Kaija Bramwell and New Jersey transplant Samantha Wright. Several years ago I trained Kaija’s father Eric. Kaija is a very mature and determined sixteen-year girl with tremendous lifting ability. Kaija went six for six and took home the Rick Schutzs award. Kaija snatched 53, 56, 58 kilos (58 was a PR). In the Clean & Jerk she made 73, 76, 79 kilos (79 was a PR) and a PR Total of 137 kilos. Kaija will be competing at the Junior Nationals in January and she will be looking for some medals. She is on pace to break the Youth American Records. Sam had a very good day in the Snatch. Sam made 64, 67, & 70 kilos (70 was a PR). Her 70-kilo snatch won her the Gold Medal beating the second place girl on bodyweight. In the Clean & Jerk, Sam had a little bit of a challenge. She missed 78 kilos on her opener, made it on her second attempt, only to miss 81 on her third attempt. Sam finished in 3rd place overall. Great Job Sam! Sam will fix her mistakes in the Clean & Jerk and will come back to be very determined at the Nationals this summer. Our last lifter of the competition was Missy Faubus. Missy competes in the 75+-kilo weight class. She made all three of her snatches 85, 90, & 92 kilos (90 & 92 are National Comp PRs). The 92 kilos Snatch was good enough for a Silver Medal and only 3 kilos off of Gold. In the Clean & Jerk Missy had a little bit of a struggle with her opener of 105 kilos. She came back to make a solid lift with it on her Second Attempt. 109 kilos was the weight we called for on her Third Attempt but the Jerk was not there on that day. Missy placed 4th overall just missing 3rd place by 1 kilo. Missy had a great performance and we are very proud of her.

All in the entire meet had many highs and lows but I am very proud how all of our athletes fought hard on every lift. Everyone knows what they need to work on and we will make the appropriate plans to get everyone ready for the next National Competition.

Four Performance One Weightlifters went to the 2013 University Nationals on the campus of East Tennessee State University. Two came home with medals. Keith Weitz was first up in the 69 kilo Weight Class. Keith is still filling out in this weight class as he moves up from the 62 kilo division. Keith Snatched 100 kilos and Clean & Jerked 120 kilos for a 220 kg Total. This total finished Keith in third place. Great job Keith.

Next up was Blake Edwards in the 77 kilo division. Blake Snatched a Personal Record of 113 kilos on his Second Attempt. In the Clean & Jerk Blake made 141 kilos on his Second Attempt. He Cleaned 146 kilos on his Third Attempt but was called for a very slight Press Out with the Jerk. 254 Kilos is a Personal Record Total for Blake and earned him a Third Place finish. Great job Blake. With more training and consistent lifting he will hit his next big goal of 270 kilos.

Up next was Chase Verquer. Chase is the newest of all four lifters but has shown tremendous potential and upside. This was Chase’s first National Meet and he did fine. He hit 112 kilos in the Snatch and 137 kilos in the Clean & Jerk. Chase did not place but learned a lot in this first big meet. He will be back for more in the months to come.

Last up was Collin Ito. Collin is the most decorated lifter out of all four and this was the first meet of his career where Collin lifted as a 105 kilo lifter. All of Collin’s meets up to this point over 11 years of Competing have been in the 105+ kilo Weight Class. When any athlete loses this much bodyweight there is bound to be some strength loss. Collin did quite well and hit Personal Records for this Bodyweight with a 143 kilo Snatch and a 176 kilo Clean & Jerk. Collin finished in 4th place in this very competitive weight class. We congratulate Collin for making the weight and hitting his numbers.

Lifters Blake Edwards and Keith Weitz are getting ready for the University Nationals and are looking sharp. Hitting some big weights is the main focus of this week. Friday is the ultimate day of the week where the biggest lifts are tackled. Only the tough should show up to compete that day. For the rest of our lifters we are grinding away with some volume and technical work. April-May will bring on more strength and speed work. Leading us into June-through the beginning of Aug. This period will everyone will help Sarah Robles prepare for the Olympic Games. Train like a champion sacrifice your life and body for greatness.